ECU has had really good teams and will again.
Been to Raleigh. Liked it a lot.
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Seriously. Stay in New Bern. It was only a 30 minute drive to the stadium on the team bus.
Very small town atmosphere on a bay, just like Carmel.
You will thank meā¦
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Not a bad idea. Not sure Iād place New Bern in the same category with Carmel, but perhaps itās similar to a smaller Charleston or Savannah. I was fortunate enough to live in Monterey, CA for a year while in the service. Also spent several years at Bragg in the 82nd Airborne as a teenager-young adult. So familiar with both areas.
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Thatās why earlier I called it āthe Carmel of the EAST COASTāā¦Carmel in a league of its own.
And thank you for your service !!!
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I was also at Fort Bragg and will say that NC is a beautiful state, with the most perfect seasons Iāve ever experienced (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, all equally distributed). But comparing the coast with any California coast line isā¦wellā¦optimistic.
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I did my ROTC Advanced Camp at Fort Bragg back in 1993.
It SUCKED!!!
OTOHā¦I did the Foreign Area Officer Orientation Course at the Presidio of Monterey.
That Monterey-Carmel area is truly one of the nicest places in the country to live! BEAUTIFUL!!!
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We went to the Navy game in 2016. There was some kind of yacht races or boat thing going on and every place in Annapolis was packed. We stayed in Baltimore and enjoyed the harbor and historic ships, but the game itself was miserable. It was cold and raining and we lost. My wife had bought an expensive new raincoat that turned out not to be waterproof. She got soaked to the point that when we got back to the hotel she had to wring out her undies. She will never go there again.
Oh, we also made a trip to Ft. McHenry and that was very interesting. It gave a more tangible idea of what was going on when we sing the Stars Spangled Banner.
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We made it a 10 day vacation trip. We toured most of the Smithsonian Museums, saw the Constitution and D of C. On either that particular trip, or the following, we visited the Capital, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Botanical Garden, National Cathedral, Mt. Vernon, National Harbor, King Street, Torpedo Factory & waterfront, (we stayed in Alexandria), the major memorials along the West end of the Mall, the National Cemetery and a special event @ the Tomb of the Unknown, both Air and Space museums, twice drove to the Naval Academy, did the tour and spent time visiting the waterfront and enjoyed all the sail boats. Restaurants were busy all day long, as well as lots of folks visiting the Academy. We did see the assembly @ Noon, and while there, I managed to again put my foot in my mouth. I was visiting with a fellow Coog and mentioned a former player, name (If I remember correctly) was Gerald Cook. Played left side cornerback (I believe). Said he was terrible. He seldom left his 6 square feet of football field until a pass was completed or incomplete. The guy I was talking with said his relative played 2nd string behind Cook. I do believe we did most of this during our first trip, because I remember a lot more that we visited, but I know that stuff was on the second trip. Planned a third, but we all know what happened to that game/trip . . . . . Hope to live long enough and be blessed by the Lord to be enabled to get back to DC next time. Thinking we will again stay in Alexandria (easy train ride into most of DC) and King Street is cool.
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I started my career as an Airborne Linguist in the AF. Monterey is still the most beautiful place I have been in my career - two years there. Expensive as all hell, but beautiful.
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I attended DLIFLC in Monterey as well for Russian Basic as an enlisted guy filling a HUMINT position. Several years later, after being commissioned and working totally outside of intel, big Air Force pulled my name out of a hat and sent me TDY to Tbilisi, Georgia for 8 months.
Sort of like āThanks for maintaining your proficiency and taking your DLPT every year, so now letās see you earn that pro pay!ā
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3/3/2 in Arabic. Dual languaged for FLPP with Spanish.
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Well done! While I stationed in DC, I attended a couple of contracted language schools in Rosslyn, VA on the Air Forceās dime. A lot of the students were 1A8X1/1N3X1s picking up a second language. I guess the Air Force wanted the linguists to have both a HD/HD and LD/HD language. Airmen were studying Albanian, Chechen, and other more exotic tongues.
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You two are amazing, and I mean that from the bottom of my heartā¦just reading your banter only reassures me that America is the greatest country in the history of mankind, and protected by the worldās finestā¦
Bravo !
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Honestly, there are plenty of very talented young people serving in uniform. They come from all walks of life. But unfortunately, less than one percent of our population serves in the military and, in my view, we need to rethink and create a system where every young American has an opportunity to serve their nation in other waysānot just the military. We need to create a culture of service where we are all invested in our nationās future and feel a shared sense of responsibility. OK, time for me to hop off my soapbox and stick to Coog FB or MBB discussions!
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Joe, were you ever stationed at the air force base outside of Istanbul? My ship went there and anchored in the Bosporus. We were the first ship to go in since an incident years earlier. Since we had blockaded Cyprus during tensions between Greece and Turkey, the navy was very unpopular. We werenāt allowed to have liberty, but we had teams of 3 petty officers assigned as shore patrol and stationed at various spots in the city. We just had the white belt and SP arm band, no night stick, not even a water gun.
We were just there to be seen and to salute Turkish officers that would pass by from time to time.
Turks would come and curse us and throw garbage at our feet, and to tell you the truth I felt pretty vulnerable. Then this lady comes up and starts talking to us in Turkish and within seconds 2 guys appeared out of nowhere and hauled her off. Turns out she was trying to sell us drugs. Knowing we were under the watch of the Turk police made us feel safer.
All of us who did the SP thing were taken on a tour of the city going to St. Sophia, the covered bizarre, the Blue Mosque (though only on outside), and the sultanās palace (that dude lived well). We were also taken to our air force base enlisted club which was nice.
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I used to be a 2/2/2 in Afghan Persian (Dari). I went to DLIās satellite campus in DC. They had a contract with a private language school there.
TurkDelite,
Did you go to Diplomatic Language Services in Rosslyn?
They were the DLI contractor for my language training!
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I believe DLI East Coast had several IDIQ contracts with language schools in the Metro Capitol Region. I remember attending one school in Rosslyn, very close to the Rosslyn Metro station and Key Bridge (Inlingua was the name I believe). The other school was up the hill on Wilson Blvd, closer to Courthouse Metro in a very nice office building. Unfortunately, canāt remember the name.
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I should specify, I āused to beā a 3/3/2 as well. I havenāt been a linguist in a long while now. However, my time as an aircrew linguist set me up for the job I have now. No complaints.
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I served in the 60s and at the time of induction applied for and just missed the language school at the Presidio. At that time mostly Asian languages were in need. Instead I wound up in the ASA (Army Security Agency, later rolled into NSA) and wound up in a base on the Black Sea opposite Yalta and Odessa. It was one of the most beautiful places Iāve ever been, and afforded me 10 days in Istanbul which Iāll never forget. I agree with TurkDelite, young people no longer serving our country has contributed to a lot of things that I donāt think are good. I would like to see a two year service offered with a pick to serve in either military or another form of community service. My time in the military (3 years) gave me a connection to America that I donāt believe that I would have had otherwise.
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āMy time in the military (3 years) gave me a connection to America that I donāt believe that I would have had otherwise.ā Stealthcougar
My devotion to my country gave me a passion to serve. I grew up wanting to be a Marine because my dad was in WWII. Flat feet prohibited the Marines, but the Navy gave me the opportunity and I am grateful for it. I think those of us who were able to serve, in any branch of the armed forces, have a different appreciation for it (of course there are always exceptions). BTW, after being in the Navy, Iām glad it worked out that way.
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